Wrestling Year in Review - 2002.

The year in review should have been written weeks ago, however, due to my date with destiny in hospital with me resurrecting like The Undertaker and taking some time off, it has been delayed. It is, however, ready today.

2002 was a very significant year for wrestling in my opinion as for the first time, WWF (soon to become WWE) had no competition with the buying of WCW and ECW. This made the WWF not only the #1 Sports Entertainment company in the world but it also gave itself a platform to showcase a combination of wrestlers from the past, present and the future. In terms of a roster, 2002 and 2003 was probably the best the WWF ever had. A combination of WWF, WCW and ECW superstars made for engrossing viewing.

The year began as it ended, The King of the World was the undisputed WWF Champion and Chris Jericho finally had the opportunity to showcase his already increasing talent. Jericho's victories over Stone Cold and The Rock during his title reign made him seem like a legitimate champion. The big talking point of the year was the return of Triple H in Madison Square Garden, quite possibly the most emotional and biggest pop I have ever, ever heard. Triple H may not be extremely popular but no-one can deny the true greatness of that moment.

2002 was a year of returns, the NWO made their debut in the WWF at No Way Out. The returning Hogan, Nash and Hall made their mark for the 1st time since their departure in the mid 90's. Hogan's return set up a dream match; Icon vs Icon. The Rock vs Hollywood Hogan. My favourite match of the year, simply because of the crowd and the spectacle. For the 1st time since 1998, Shawn Michaels wrestled a match against his longtime 'friend' and 'ally' Triple H. HBK's return and rivalry with Triple H made for the best fued of 2002 imo. A truly brilliant and personal fued.

2002 also began the brand-extention and soon to be WWE draft. The WWE's cast of characters was so large and populas that it needed to be split into a RAW and Smackdown! brand with the Undisputed Champion allowing to appear on both shows. The 1st draft definitely belonged to Smackdown!. I definitely felt that during 2002-2003, Smackdown had the better quality of superstars.

Key Dates

RAW 07/01 - Triple H makes his highly anticipated return in MSG after an almost career-threatening injury.

Royal Rumble - Triple H wins the Royal Rumble for the 1st time. Maven also eliminates The Undertaker in the biggest shock of the year.

No Way Out - The NWO make their debut in the WWE costing Stone Cold Steve Austin the Undisputed Championship against Chris Jericho.

RAW 18/02 - The infamous Rock-Hogan staredown. The Rock 'rockbottoms' Hogan. The NWO destroy The Rock and almost end his career.

23/02 - The 1st ever Ring of Honor event.

Wrestlemania X8 - In the Skydome, The Rock and Hogan face each other in a match for the ages. The match was that well recieved from the crowd that the subsequent Jericho-HHH Undisputed Championship match was overshadowed. HHH went on to become the Undisputed Champion.

RAW 18/03 - The debut of 'The Next Big Thing' Brock Lesnar.

RAW 25/03 - The 1st ever brand extension with RAW owned by Ric Flair and Smackdown! owned by Vince McMahon becoming separate entities.

Backlash - Hogan defeats Triple H to become a WWE Champion for the 1st time since 1993.

RAW 03/06 - Shawn Michaels returns as a member of the NWO. Stone Cold Steve Austin's last appearance on WWE TV until 2003.

19/06 - The debut and formation of TNA. Ken Shamrock becomes the 1st ever NWA:TNA Heavyweight Champion.

King of the Ring - Brock Lesnar is crowned the 2002 KOTR.

RAW 15/07 - Eric Bischoff debuts as the new RAW GM.

Smackdown 25/07 - The debut of Rey Mysterio.

27/07 - Low Ki becomes the 1st ever ROH World Champion.

Summerslam - Brock Lesnar defeats The Rock to become WWE Champion. Shawn Michaels defeats Triple H in his 1st match in 4 years.

RAW 26/08 - Infamous Kane return in MSG against The Unamericans.

RAW 02/09 - The WHC returns to WWE and becomes the lead championship on RAW. Triple H becomes the 1st ever WWE WHC.

RAW 07/10 - Kane wins TLC IV and retains the World Tag Team Championships by himself against Jericho & Christian, Jeff Hardy & RVD and Bubba & Spike Dudley after his partner The Hurricane is taken out before the match. The match would later be voted 'Raw Match of the Decade'.

No Mercy - Brock Lesnar defeats The Undertaker in a brutal and highly praised HITC. Triple H defeats Kane in a 'Title-Unification Match' as part of the 'Katie Vick' storyline.

Survivor Series - Shawn Michaels defeats Triple H in the 1st ever Elimination Chamber and the debut of Scott Steiner in MSG.

Very interesting and informative article, I always enjoy reading these.

A couple of thoughts:
> Was this the year Stone Cold famously 'took his ball and went home' or was that 2003? He didn't feature much in the review
> I had no idea Ken Shamrock was first ever TNA champion!
> The push Brock Lesnar had has to be the biggest and quickest push in history. WWE champion in 5 months, beating Taker in a Hell in a Cell in his first year....he really had the world at his feet
> Shawn and HHH's match at SS was my fav match that year. For HBK to put in that level of performance after 4 and a half years out, incredible.

Backlash - Hogan defeats Triple H to become a WWE Champion for the 1st time since 1993.


The night me and the girlfriend first got together, 9 years later i never imagined:

a) I'd still be with her

and

b) Hogan would still be Wrestling!!!!!!

Great article

Animal - Yeah, he took his ball and went home as JR, Vince and The Rock famously said. He returned N.W.O '03 where he beat Eric Bischoff's backside.

Brock Lesnar's push was incredible, the WWE invested so much time into Lesnar.

I do love the HBK-HHH Summerslam match. In my all time top 5 matches of all time just for, as you said, his level of performance.

greggschickenbake wrote:Animal - Yeah, he took his ball and went home as JR, Vince and The Rock famously said. He returned N.W.O '03 where he beat Eric Bischoff's backside.

Brock Lesnar's push was incredible, the WWE invested so much time into Lesnar.

I do love the HBK-HHH Summerslam match. In my all time top 5 matches of all time just for, as you said, his level of performance.

Do you think that the push for Lesnar and then his decision to burn the WWE has made them think twice about pushing young talent since? Do they fear that they will only use it as a stepping stone to MMA / the movies like Lesnar and Rock?

Nice review!

one thing that you didn't mention which is a personal favourite of mine was the 8 Man TLC match they had on Raw during the Raw Roulette thing. incredible match.

The Kop; Of course! Voted the best Raw match of the decade. Thank you for mentioning.

JoshSansom; I think Lesnar burning the bridge with WWE has made Vince inparticular think twice about pushing proper young talent. Many of the already established WWE talents are still on top and they're very few younger talents breaking the glass ceiling. The WWE has plenty of young stars who have the potential to become big time players but it's taking a lot longer than it should. The Miz, Jack Swagger and Sheamus all won the gold last year. The Miz is the only 1 out of the 3 who I think will cement his place there.

greggschickenbake wrote:The Kop; Of course! Voted the best Raw match of the decade. Thank you for mentioning.

JoshSansom; I think Lesnar burning the bridge with WWE has made Vince inparticular think twice about pushing proper young talent. Many of the already established WWE talents are still on top and they're very few younger talents breaking the glass ceiling. The WWE has plenty of young stars who have the potential to become big time players but it's taking a lot longer than it should. The Miz, Jack Swagger and Sheamus all won the gold last year. The Miz is the only 1 out of the 3 who I think will cement his place there.

Also, while people do, rightly, complain about the quality of the current roster, imagine how much better it would have been had the roster that WWE probably expected to have now had still been around.

While they should still have adapted things would have looked very different had guys like Edge, Lesnar, Benoit and Guerrero not left either tragically or for other reasons.

JoshSansom wrote:

greggschickenbake wrote:The Kop; Of course! Voted the best Raw match of the decade. Thank you for mentioning.

JoshSansom; I think Lesnar burning the bridge with WWE has made Vince inparticular think twice about pushing proper young talent. Many of the already established WWE talents are still on top and they're very few younger talents breaking the glass ceiling. The WWE has plenty of young stars who have the potential to become big time players but it's taking a lot longer than it should. The Miz, Jack Swagger and Sheamus all won the gold last year. The Miz is the only 1 out of the 3 who I think will cement his place there.

Also, while people do, rightly, complain about the quality of the current roster, imagine how much better it would have been had the roster that WWE probably expected to have now had still been around.

While they should still have adapted things would have looked very different had guys like Edge, Lesnar, Benoit and Guerrero not left either tragically or for other reasons.

Even though that would improve the roster and make for some quality matches, all 4 of them are once again older wrestlers minus Lesnar. WWE shouldn't be afraid to push younger talent and see what they can bring to the main event scene. If they push 3 and only 1 manages to impress among the main event scene then I would consider it a success.

Great article again Gregg.... Another underated year? Or am I get carried away with the sheer 'star power' involved?

Couple of questions was this the year of Katie Vick?

So Hogan was a champ in the 80's, 90's & 00's - Three seperate decades has anyone else acheiver this?

I think you should a review of 2010 ..

Cena, Cena, Cena, Cena, Otron, Nexus, Cena, Cena

I thought 2002-03 for the sheer 'star power' was brilliant. I don't think it's talked about as much as it should be. Both Summerslam 2002 and Wrestlemania XIX were brilliant events.

Yeah, sadly. Put Kane's character through the mill, get him massively over with the crowd then don't give him the belt. Sad, sad, sad.

I think Hogan and Flair are the only ones that have achieved the feat. The Undertaker has held the belt during the 90's, 00's and '10's.

Jericho has also held the belt in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, and no doubt HHH will repeat that soon.
I can't think of another person to do it from 80s to 2000s, certainly not in WWF.

I didn't think Jericho had? Thought his 1st major title reign was 2001?

Definitely agree with Triple H having at least 1 more reign as the champ.

greggschickenbake wrote:I didn't think Jericho had? Thought his 1st major title reign was 2001?

Your completely correct! My apologies mate. For some reason I had it in my head he unified the titles at Vengeance 1999 but it was 2001, he only debuted in 1999. Scrub him off that list then haha.

Can we include Sting on that list of people to hold a world title in 3 decades, or only WWF/E guys?

Well, I'm including WCW and WWE, so yeah, I think we can include TNA.

Sting is the 90's, 00's and 10's. One of a few select wrestlers in the list.

Yeah I don't think Jericho has done it.... Hogan's probably gonna have 10's added by Bound For Glory if the rumours are true

Sting forgot him... Did he have a version of the NWA title in the 80's? Could he have 4?

Imagine if Hogan has 4 decades, dearie me.

I thought Sting's first ever reign was GAB '90 but I ain't sure.

Did Flair not manage it in the 70s 80s and 90s?

His 1st reign was 1981, so it's 80's, 90's and 00's for Flair.